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With similar views, and with a knowledge of the civilizing effects 

 of agreeable country residences, the lordly Strafford, when viceroy of 

 Ireland, writes in a despatch dated 1634, 'there is a great want of 

 good houses in this kingdom, which may be an occasion they (the 

 nobles and gentlemen) take not that delight in their abodes in the 

 country, as otherwise I am persuaded they would, found they at home 

 decency and handsomeness to entertain them.' 



The rebuke of James the First to the country squires who thronged 

 his court will be remembered, reminding them that they were like 

 great ships in a river when at home, while in London they were only 

 like small boats in the sea, or minnows among tritons. In his son's 

 reign measures were taken to promote rural sports, and the game laws 

 were rendered stringent. 



It is well known that the absence of 'game' in Ireland is one of the 

 causes that leads a man of fortune to become an absentee; he quits his 

 own property in this country, and often spends the income from it 

 among English preserves, or on the moors of Scotland. Yet Ireland 

 possesses in her inland streams an attraction that might not only keep 

 him at home, but even prove sufficient to induce some of the wealthy 

 of the sister countries to reside amongst us. Ireland has been said to 

 be ' the classic land for the exploits of the water sportsman.' Daniel 

 writes, in his Rural Sports, that ' the waters of Ireland abound in all 

 that can invite an angler to their banks; perhaps they are better 

 stored, and the fish contained in them of a size superior to those found 

 elsewhere in the United Kingdom.' 



A very interesting fishery exists in the lakes of the Shannon, and 

 particularly in those situate in the county of Westmeath. These lakes 

 abound in trout of large size and superior quality. A basket of eight 

 or nine fish, averaging three pounds weight, is not an unusual result of 

 a day's fishing. At one season of the year the " green drake/' 

 appears; this is a green fly, which rises from the bottom of the lake to 

 the surface, and, when emerging from its shell, is greedily taken by the 

 fish. Trout are taken in great numbers at this time. Persons from 

 all quarters assemble to take part in the amusement, many come over 

 from England for the sport, the hotels are filled, and lodges and 

 cottages in the vicinity of the lakes are fitted up for their accom- 

 modation a number of boats are built and equipped, and an important 

 amount of employment is given in many ways. The 'drake' season, 

 which lasts some weeks, is looked forward to anxiously by those who 

 derive profit or subsistence from supplying the visitors with the many 

 things they require, and in attending them in boats upon the lakes. 



The lakes of Killarney were at one time resorted to by numbers of 

 persons for the sake of the salmon fishing, but, owing to the erection 

 of Scotch weirs in the river by which these waters are discharged into 

 the Atlantic, at length scarcely a single salmon ascended to them. 

 After the Act of 1842 was passed the resident proprietors succeeded 

 in having several of these weirs prostrated, and the lakes are now 

 remarkably well supplied with fish. The suggestion may be offered 

 that the use of nets in these lakes is to be lamented, and that the 

 amusement of good angling, added to the pleasures which the exquisite 

 scenery of Killarney affords, would greatly increase the number of 

 visitors, and in that manner add to the wealth of the neighbourhood. 



